Bridgestone Addresses Employee Lockdown Related Stress Through Innovative HR Policies

Hyderabad / Pune:  Bridgestone India has initiated a slew of measures aimed at destressing and for the psychological wellbeing of its employees. Acknowledging that the work from home phenomena has no fixed timings leaving little time for employees to organize their work schedule or be with their families.

Bridgestone India has informed all employees that effective immediately every till I pm every Monday will be a “No Meeting” zone giving employees time to organize their work priorities for the week. The HR initiatives also mandate a fixed lunchtime for employees during which period there will be no online meetings. This ensures that employees adhere to a healthy regime. The Company also announced that for the next three months, there will be one Friday off for all employees so as to enable them to spend quality time with their families over an extended weekend. Employees have also been instructed that they should log off by 5 pm. Another initiative ‘Take 5’ allows employees to take five consecutive days off work to energize and reinvigorate themselves. These initiatives will be applicable to both its plants in Pune and Indore and all its offices throughout India.

Bridgestone India also rolled out several support initiatives reaching out beyond employees, to its communities during the pandemic. The Company contributed towards setting up two  Oxygen Generator Plants in Pune and at Devi Ahilya Covid Care Center, Indore, the second-largest Covid Care Centre in the country. The Bridgestone Group has supplemented its India arm’s efforts by contributing 56 ventilators, 120 oxygen concentrators, and 10,000 N-95 Masks. The company has also been responding regularly to the needs of PPE and other safety equipment of Covid care centers in Pune and Indore; as well as reaching out to the trucker community to provide COVID Safety kits and quarantine/isolation facilities, as they work to ensure the supply of goods across the country.

“Serving society stems from our core belief of "Our Way to Serve”. These are unprecedented times and if our efforts can give relief, solace, and even a new lease of life to some, I think it is rewarding enough of our efforts. We are grateful to be able to mobilize global support from the Bridgestone family towards procuring essential medical equipment and help us reach out to many more in need. I thank all my team members for their untiring efforts during this very trying period” said Parag Satpute, Managing Director; Bridgestone India

Bridgestone India’s pandemic-related efforts are aimed at extending relief to the communities it serves and its employees.

“An essential part of business continuity during the past few months has been the Work from the Home solution which has been universally adopted. This has however led to employees having no fixed timings, being constantly on call, and not having any quality time for themselves or their families leading to high levels of stress. Our initiatives are aimed at addressing these issues and ensuring that our team members work destressed and have quality time for themselves and their families.” said Apurv Choubey Chief Human Resources office, Bridgestone India.